In the course of primary school education, pupils often encounter the phenomenon of light during classes. The aim of this degree paper is to promote research in this field. The practical part of the paper is devoted to making practical exercises that pupils perform with the help of the textbook Zbirka svetloba – naravoslovje (The Light Compendium – Natural Sciences).
During the first three years, also called the first triad, in the Environment Studies class pupils get acquainted with the Light Compendium – Natural Sciences textbook; they name the light-emitting objects, observe its diffusion, observe illuminated objects and find out in which conditions the objects can be best seen. They observe total reflection with the help of a mirror reflection, and study shade with the help of a figure and a screen.
In the Natural and Technical Sciences class, pupils independently, following instructions, observe a light beam originating from an illuminant and record their answers on worksheets. With the help of objects, found in their surroundings, they determine the visibility of an object depending on whether the object is illuminated by a light beam or not. Using a small figure and a white screen, they learn how shadows depend on the positions of the figure and the screen. Pupils make a scale model of a hill by themselves. The model is then used to depict the sunny and the shady side of the hill. In the next exercise, they again find a new object in the surroundings that is suitable for depiction of the sunny and the shady sides. They make sketches of the experiment and mark the important terms. This helps them review their knowledge. Pupils learn about dependency of the shade on the position of the body with the help of two different-sized figures that they can make themselves or search for at home or in the classroom.
In the Nature Sciences class in the years 6 and 7, pupils acquire the terms ‘illuminated body’ and ‘illuminated side of a body’ through an experiment where they position a figure in the way of light and observe where the figure is more and where it is less illuminated. Using green-, blue-, and red-coloured filters, pupils set up an experiment where they show the making of cyan, magenta, yellow, and white lights. In the experiment using plane-parallel plates, pupils learn that the direction of the light transmitted through plane-parallel plates does not change with the 90-degree angle, however the light beam does move in the parallel position when the angle is changed. The phenomenon where the light is partly refracted and partly reflected is studied with the help of an illuminant, one narrow light beam, and a semicircular lens.
In the Physics class in the last triad, pupils set up an experiment with an illuminant, one narrow light beam and a mirror. While changing the position of the mirror, they observe the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction. They establish that the angle of refraction is always identical to the angle of incidence. With the help of aluminium foil, pupils produce diffuse reflection and explore the difference between the diffuse and total reflection. The refraction of light at the boundary between two substances with different optical densities is shown with one narrow beam of light and a plane-parallel plate. Travelling through the air and into the glass, the light refracts towards the perpendicular line, and away from it when it travels from the glass and towards the air. Pupils learn about the characteristics of converging lens when the light is directed at it, parallel to the optical axis, in 3 parallel light beams. In the course of this experiment, pupils analyse the direction of light when it travels through converging lens. Similarly, they set up an experiment with diverging lens, except that in this case, the light diffuses when travelling through the lens and its beams seemingly intersect before entering the lens.
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